


Tonight

by BDEblueyes



Series: The Graveyard [3]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Not a Happy Story, Pining, Unrequited, happy ending for the violetship, implied violetshipping, no i don't know what's wrong with me either, not so much for the puffship, one-sided puffshipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 11:01:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29294844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BDEblueyes/pseuds/BDEblueyes
Summary: I stepped away from the stage and let my eyes track you as you crossed the room. My heart aching as I saw that you were with him.
Relationships: Bakura Ryou/Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler, Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler/Kaiba Seto
Series: The Graveyard [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2103105
Comments: 7
Kudos: 9





	Tonight

The air slammed out of my lungs when you walked into the club. I hadn’t expected to ever see you again. And certainly not here. Not tonight. Not knowing that tomorrow… 

But there you were, radiating sunlight in the depths of the smoke-filled gloom. You always did have a warmth, a glow, that no one else could ever match. So I thanked the gods that my set was over and I didn’t have to sing any more. I couldn’t breathe to sing. 

I stepped away from the stage and let my eyes track you as you crossed the room. My heart aching as I saw that you were with him. 

Of course you were with him. Why wouldn’t you be? 

It was Yugi who told me you were engaged. That you’d hardly left each other’s sides in years. He said you were happy.

I didn’t want to believe it. Believing it would mean I’d failed.

But I could see it now, in the way you smiled at him, the way your eyes never left his face. You were happy with him in a way that you never could have been with me. 

“Ryou.”

I ignored the voice next to me. One of my bandmates. They could wait. You were far more important. 

“Ryou, come on, man. It’s your shout.” 

It absolutely wasn’t. We didn’t pay for drinks here. It was part of our contract.

I looked at the rest of the band, who milled about looking like lost lambs. I didn’t know what had come over them, why they weren’t just getting their own damned drinks, but I couldn’t stand them looking at me like that. 

“Fuck. Fine. Give me a second.”

Appeased, they backed off. I stood and moved to the bar. 

“Four beers and a water,” I said, practically growling at the bartender.

I just had to make it through one more set. Just one more, then I could go home, and pretend for one more night that you were mine. And tomorrow, I would forget you were here. Forget you ever existed. I had to.

“Oh my god, it really is you.”

I inhaled sharply, and turned. “Hi Jou,” I said through teeth gritted not out of anger but to keep myself from saying something I’d regret.

“What’s it been, man? Five, six years?” you asked, completely oblivious to the way your presence burned me.

“Eight and a half,” I said. I managed to resist the urge to give a more accurate answer. Eight years, seven months, and sixteen days. Eight years, seven months, sixteen days, and… twenty-one hours, if my maths was right.

“Seriously? That’s crazy.”

I was careful not to look directly at you, at your molten honey eyes, or your perfect lips. A tray appeared on the counter between us. Four beers. One water. “Yeah. I, uh… I have to get back to the band.”

“Sure,” you said. Then you reached out and caught my wrist as I went to pick up the tray. “Hey, listen, before you disappear…”

“Yes, Jou?”

“You’re singing again in a bit, right?”

I nodded.

“Sing something special for us?”

“Us?” I asked. As if I didn’t already know.

You smiled and I swear half the room lit up. “Seto and me, we’re getting married tomorrow.”

“Ah. Congratulations. We don’t really do requests-”

“Please, Ryou?”

The way you said my name was like the most heavenly music. But it crushed me, like the heaviest weight. Drove daggers into every part of me. “Sure, Jou. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thanks! Oh, and by the way, you look super sharp in that suit.”

What was I supposed to say to that? I knew what I  _ wanted _ to say. I wanted to tell you you were breathtaking. I wanted to tell you that the image of you as you were tonight, in that black suit with your shirt halfway unbuttoned, would be etched into my mind forever. That I’d never be able to look at anyone else. That I  _ hadn’t _ been able to look at anyone else.

“Oh,” I said with as light a chuckle as I could manage. “Thanks. You look pretty good yourself.”

Your cheeks turned the prettiest shade of pink then, and I permitted myself to revel in the thought that I had caused that. Just for a moment. If I didn’t get away I’d start thinking of all the other ways I could make that happen, if you’d let me. 

If only I hadn’t been such a coward.

“I really do have to go now.” I inclined my head towards the waiting band. “Congrats, again.”

How cruel the world can be, I thought as I took the tray back to my bandmates, who fell on it like feral dogs. 

We didn’t do requests. There would be no changes to the setlist. You would not get your special song, and I didn’t get to avoid the song I’d been dreading since you walked in.

_ I know, you belong to somebody new _ , I sang, the guitarist harmonising next to me as my heart broke for the last time,  _ but tonight you belong to me. _

**Author's Note:**

> The absolutely delightful [Five_seas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Five_seas/pseuds/Five_seas) made some gorgeous [art for this story](https://www.deviantart.com/fiveseas42/art/Ryou-by-way-of-Frida-Kahlo-869926441)!


End file.
